YPSILANTI SCHOOLS COULD PRIVATIZE TOP ADMINISTRATORS
YPSILANTI, Mich. — Ypsilanti Public Schools could reduce health
insurance costs and other benefits more than $130,000 by
privatizing its top three administrative positions, according to
The Ann Arbor News.

The school board next week will consider extending the contract
of Superintendent James Hawkins for two years. He has been
interim superintendent since last spring. John Fulton is retiring
from his role as executive director of human resources, and Alan
Dowdy, chief financial officer, is already retired and working in
the same job as an independent contractor, The News reported.

With all three classified as contractors, rather than school
employees, the district would not be liable for their health
insurance benefits, The News said.

Dowdy told The News that the hiring of independent contractors is
becoming more popular statewide, but that teachers' unions oppose
the idea for instructional services.

HOLLAND DECLARES SECOND IMPASSE, TEACHERS GET FREE INSURANCE
HOLLAND, Mich. — Holland Public Schools has declared an impasse
in contract negotiations with teachers for the second time in
three months, according to The Holland Sentinel.

School board members Monday night voted on both the impasse
Monday night, and also a new health insurance plan that will not
require teachers to pay any money toward premiums, The Sentinel
reported. Starting March 1, teachers will have a choice of two
insurance plans offered by Blue Cross, both of which will meet
the board's maximum allowed cost of $1,085 per teacher per month.

The school board first declared an impasse last November, picking
a new health care plan, The Sentinel reported. Under that
coverage, which took effect Jan. 1, teachers had to pay a portion
of their premiums based on what level of service they chose. That
insurance is still handled by the Michigan Education Special
Services Association, a third-party insurance administrator
founded by the Michigan Education Association.

Holland schools had been paying more than $15,000 a year per
teacher for insurance through MESSA, The Sentinel reported. The
new options will cost about $13,000 per teacher annually.

Some teachers who spoke at the school board meeting said they
disagreed with the plan because it will require them to pay
prescription drug costs, The Sentinel reported.

"You're taking hundreds and hundreds of dollars away from people
who have worked for you for years," Patti Dixon, a literacy
coach, told the board.

Charles Bullard, president of the Holland teachers union, had no
comment when asked if he was pleased that teachers will not pay
any money toward insurance premiums, The Sentinel said.

UP TEACHERS THREATEN "JOB ACTIONS"
IRONWOOD, Mich. — The Ironwood Education Association said it is
considering taking "job actions" after the Ironwood Area School
District rejected a contract proposal from teachers, according to
the Ironwood Daily Globe.

The two sides cannot agree about health insurance costs and the
length of the school day, the Globe reported. Bruce Beckman,
bargaining chair for the union, said the Michigan Education
Association will send representatives to meet with IEA members,
the Globe reported. The paper said Bruce Beckman of the union
bargaining team did not discuss specifics about "job actions,"
but the Globe said it "presumably could mean teachers would walk
off the job."

"If that happened, the board would have to call a quick meeting
and decide how we're going to react to it," Superintendent James
Rayner told the newspaper. "We would certainly consult our
attorney and arrive at a decision."

The Globe said the school board rejected the latest union
proposal, its third since Dec. 22, because of higher costs.

"We had to reject it because it incurred expenses that exceeded
our budgetary limitations," Rayner said.

"Every time we think we are getting close, the agreement appears
to be sabotaged with terms known to be unacceptable to teachers,"
Beckman told the Globe.

LIVONIA SCHOOLS WILL ADD POLICE PRESENCE
LIVONIA, Mich. — The Clarenceville School District will hire a
police officer in response to escalating nearby violence,
according to the Detroit Free Press.

A "school-resource officer," at a cost of $40,000 per semester,
will start this spring or next fall, the Free Press reported. The
officer will patrol the high school and middle school, which are
across the street from each other. A beating near school property
and a car explosion occurred in October and December,
respectively.

Police officers already are assigned to three other high schools
and four middle schools in Livonia, according to the Free Press.
Livonia Police Lt. Greg Winn said having officers in the schools
benefits police.

"We like having them," Winn told the Free Press. "They develop a
lot of information ... A lot of crime is committed by high school
kids."

Marion Dixon, the father of three Clarenceville High School
students, said he thinks the money is being wasted.

"That funding should go to the teachers, and they should start
picking up the slack," he told the Free Press. "Teachers today
seem to think their job is just to teach and go on. I don't see
it that way."

Dixon told the paper he feels Clarenceville is a safe school and
staff members should be able to control students.

TWO STUDENTS STABBED AT DETROIT HIGH SCHOOL; SHOTS FIRED
DETROIT — Violence erupted again last week in Detroit Public
Schools as two students were stabbed during a fight that involved
the mother of a third student, according to The Detroit News. A
gun was fired at another Detroit high school Friday, although no
one was hurt, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Two girls, 15 and 16, were stabbed in the chest after school
Thursday outside Martin Luther King Jr. High School, The News
reported. The mother turned herself in to police that night and
is under investigation for assault with a deadly weapon.

A weapon was fired Friday on the grounds of Osborn High School,
according to the Free Press. A 17-year-old student and five other
people were questioned.

Security issues at Detroit Public Schools gained attention in
December after two shootings in one week. The school district's
security force, which is not authorized to carry guns or make
arrests, has been cut 24 percent over the past two years, The
News reported.

"We need some security in the building with weapons," Ozella
Carter, an Osborn volunteer, told the Free Press. "The students
ignore security who don't have weapons. They think they're a
joke."

In another incident, a 15-year-old male student told The News he
was confronted at King High after classes on Wednesday and hit in
the face with a padlock, then kicked and stomped. Virginia
Cantrell, vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers,
told school board members Wednesday there also has been an
increase in assaults against staff members, The News reported.

NLRB FILES COMPLAINT OVER GRPS BUSING
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The National Labor Relations Board filed a
complaint against the private busing company hired by the Grand
Rapids Public Schools, according to The Grand Rapids Press.

A Feb. 27 hearing is set for Dean Transportation and the Grand
Rapids Education Support Personnel Association, which claims that
the Lansing-based Dean Transportation broke the law by making
drivers it hired from GRESPA join the Dean Transportation
Employees Union, The Press reported. The Grand Rapids school
district privatized busing last year in hopes of saving $18
million over five years, although the GRESPA contract was not set
to expire until June 30.

Fil Iorio, an attorney for GRESPA and the Michigan Education
Association, called the Dean union a "sham," The Press reported.

"To call the DTEU a sham is to discredit the hardworking members
of that union and to discredit the NLRB who certified them nearly
30 years ago," Kellie Dean, president of Dean Transportation,
told The Press.

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (http://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 148,000 published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.